As Stubborn as an Ass

[Tiff]

The pain was almost too much to bare, it started in the middle of the night, a quick jolt of excruciating pain. She hated to admit it, but Liesl Michelle Baker was a wimp when it came to severe pain and the beginnings of her labor were no different, she cried and called for her mommy, just as she had the first time she experienced menstrual cramps. Oddly enough that hadn't been that long ago. Her mom asked her question after question trying to gauge things before finally giving up because of her daughters unfailing stubbornness.

The pain subsided long enough for her to slip on a pair of over sized slippers, over sized because despite spending most of the last month on bed rest, her ankles and feet were swollen. Did I mention she was stubborn? Had she actually spent the last month in bed, instead of getting up and rearranging the toys and baby necessities in the nursery, her ankles and feet wouldn't have been the size they were now. Slippers on, baby bag and overnight bag in hand Liesl made her way down the stairs and into her mother's car.

The pain returned just as Lindsay wheeled her into the hospital. "Fuck, fuck, fuck it hurts dammit!" Lindsay grit her teeth, she didn't approve of the filthy language spewing from her daughter's lips, but she couldn't exactly blame her either. She'd been quite profane when she'd gone into labor with Liesl too. Once Liesl was set up in a room in the maternity ward and all paperwork was completed at it's fullest capacity, the obgyn entered the room to check things out and when he left with hardly an explanation, except that she was hardly dilated and that her water hadn't broken yet, Lindsay asked Liesl if she was planning on informing Brody of this new development.

"Why should I?" Her stubbornness tangled itself up in her jealousy and pain. "He asked for space and time or just time and I'm just abiding by his wishes." She crossed her arms and set them on her stomach. "I'm not stupid I know he's been spending time with Kylie and in the off chance that he hasn't spent any time with her I'm sure he's been thinking about her." She'd stopped talking to her mom a long time ago and instead continued to rant to herself. "He's just the type of guy who would rather spend time with vapid cheerleader types who have everything they're pretty little selves desire. They can't leave anything good for those who have nobody. Ugh!" She pulled the pillow from behind her and slammed her face into it to muffle the scream she was issuing. "I know I have to call him, but I don't want to...I want him to miss this just so he'll know just how shitty he's made me feel the last nine months of my life." She closed her eyes and began to pout. She really hated her situation and most of all she hated that Brody Arthur would walk into her room and make her fall in love all over again just by being beside her.

She wanted nothing more than to birth his child and feel nothing for him so no matter what choice he made regarding his relationships with her or Kylie she'd be fine. However the world was just as cruel and unjust as she was stubborn and her feelings for him would be present every second of the way, right on her shirt sleeve for the world to see. She'd be undeniably miserable if he decided he couldn't bare to part with precious Kylie Howard.

The pains of labor continued to plague her for another couple of hours before her water broke at four. A change and a check up later and Lindsay put her foot down. Liesl begrudgingly picked up her cell phone, found his number in her contacts, pushed the green send button and waited. The phone rang three times before she hung up. "He doesn't care..."

"Liesl Michelle. You didn't give him enough time..." Fearing a lecture from her mother, Liesl hit redial and waited.

[Raebee]

Brody stared vacantly at the ceiling, his mind wandering over the events of the last few weeks. He cringed as he remembered the last time a girl had been in his bed, and scowled as the conversation with Mikaela which followed echoed in his memory. "Are you really that stupid? How could you do that to Kylie? You KNOW how it's been for her with guys, it's not like you only knew her a couple months. And obviously you don't care about Jack, or me. You're so selfish. Have you told Liesl the good news already? You love her? I bet she threw a party. As if you even know what love means. You know Kylie skipped town because of you? You lost me my best friend asshole."

He sighed heavily, and looked over at the framed sonogram on the bedside table. He hadn't called Liesl at all. In fact, he'd barely left his bedroom except to go to work since. He was terrified of calling her in case she told him she was no longer interested, so he'd busied himself with setting up a nursery in his room and halfheartedly clearing the spare room in the tiny chance Liesl might move in.

Startled out of his stupor, he registered his phone was ringing and reached for it. **Liesl** He stared at it as it rang three times, then sighed when it stopped. He moved to set it down on the table as froze as it began to buzz again. With slight trepidation, he paused, then pressed the green button. "Hello?"

[Tiff]

Liesl ran her tongue over her teeth when she heard his voice come through on the phone. She glanced at her mom and then away, there was no way she would know if she decided to just hang up now. But she couldn't just hang up on him now, this was the first time she'd heard his voice in what felt like years and years. "I'm just calling to ask if you've had enough time to find yourself or whatever the hell it is that you've been doing since you said you needed time. If not then I suppose I can hang up now and have this baby without you around to see it. I wouldn't want to upset Kylie or interupt her time you know?" She paused and sat through a particularlly painful contraction, her eyes filling with tears with the pain. "It's coming whether you're here or not." She cried into the phone and then pushed the red button on her phone to hang up.

Lindsay took the phone from Liesl and put it beside her bed, sitting down and holding her daughter. "Is he coming?" She asked, though honestly she had a different question in mind. "How should I know?" Liesl snapped. "He's far more interested in Kylie Howard to really give a damn about me or this baby, or at least me. I know he loves him, but as always I'm left out of the love equation. I keep trying to tell myself it's OK that he loves her and that they'll be someone better out there for me, but it's always the same, no guy wants to be more than a fuck buddy with me." Lindsay cringed. "I can imagine it now, they're cuddled up in his bed now, kissing one another and she's trying to convince him that he doesn't need to be with me, that Tyler isn't going to remember if he was there when he came out of my vagina and that he can just come visit him once all the gross shit is over."

Lindsay took her daughter's hand and smiled. "I doubt they're together and I hardly doubt if they were that Kylie would convince him not to be here for the birth of his son. I don't know Kylie or Brody very well for that matter, but I doubt either of them are as horrid as you make them out to be. Now if Brody comes, he comes, if not, then that's alright too, but I bet he'll be here. And if he does come, you should be mildly pleasant."

[Raebee]

Brody stared at the phone as it beeped the disconnected tone, completely bemused. He couldn't understand why when she'd called him, all she'd done was yell at him and then hung up. He ran the conversation - if you could call it that- through his head again and stopped thinking all together. His child was being born! He launched himself off the bed, his brain a whirl of disconnected thoughts and plans.

Grabbing his car keys and wallet from the bedside table, he hurtled up the stairs, then turned around to grab the presents he'd had bought for the baby and Liesl over a month ago. Taking a few deep breaths, he closed his eyes. Get a grip. Labour takes hours. You're not gonna help anyone by getting into an accident on the way there. Despite his own pep talk, he raced out of the house and gunned the engine, double checking that the baby capsule in the back was still there. He had no idea how long Liesl would have to stay in the hospital after she'd delivered, but he wanted everything to be ready in case.
He pulled up to the hospital and was struck with fear. Sitting stock still, he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. She wants you here. She rang you. Just get out of the fucking car already! He closed his eyes and sighed, then climbed wearily out of the car. All the adrenaline from the phone call was gone, replaced with fear of the reception e would get when he saw her.

He collected the gift from the back of the car, and entered the hospital. Stopping only to enquire Liesl's room number, he jogged lightly through the hospital corridors. He knocked lightly on the door before pushing it open. Presenting the gifts, almost as a shield, he smiled sheepishly at the woman he could only guess was Liesl's mother, before glancing at Liesl. His heart sank at the tears on her face and scrambled for something to say. "Um...hi."

[Tiff]

By the time Brody walked into the room she was doubled over in pain, wishing she could make her body dilate and push the baby out so she wouldn't be in pain any longer. She glanced up at him and gave him a short glaring look before putting her head back down. Lindsay ran her hand across Liesl's back to comfort her and waved with her other hand. Liesl groaned as the pain passed and she could relax into the pillows. However, relaxing was the last thing her body would let her do, she was so angry with him and wanted to cause him the same amount of pain, but with nothing in her reach she threw her pillow at him. "I hate you." She began to cry. "You disappear from my life for Kylie and don't call or even say hi and instead of being able to despise you when you walk in the fucking door I can't help but love your stupid ass." She grabbed for her cell phone to throw at him, but her mother quickly snatched the phone from her grasp.

"Liesl, I think I'll go see about that epidural now." She let go of her daughter's hand, gave her a warning look not to do anything stupid, and walked passed Brody to the nurses station just outside the door. Liesl reclined on her remaining pillows and looked away from him. "You didn't bring her along?"

[Raebee]

Brody moved to comfort her, but stopped when he saw her mother was there. He stood anxiously, feeling like he shouldn't be there. Next minute, he found himself clipped across the head by an airborne pillow he'd been sure was on the bed.

Rubbing his head irritably, he glared at her. "What the hell?-" He was cut off by her furious diatribe and isntead assumed an expression of guilt, then cowered as she lifted her phone. That's gonna hurt a lot more than that pillow. He sighed weakly as Lindsay intercepted it, and grabbed the pillow from the ground. He inched closer to her bed, not sure if it was a very smart move, or a very stupid one. Sure she'd lay back on her pillows but that meant nothing.

"No. I-she uh.. We're not.." He frowned, trying to decide which way to explain it so she wouldn't start throwing things again. "We don't hang out together anymore."

Brody sat on the edge of the bed, furthest from her feet. "I'm sorry I haven't called.. all I've done is go to work and come home. I know that's not an excuse. I didn't know, I still don't know what to say to you."

[Tiff]

Liesl turned to look at him, confusion and pain painted all over her face, she didn't understand what he was saying. "You're not with her?" She ran her hands through her short hair and bit her bottom lip. "You could have said hello." She said, calming down considerably. "I'm sorry about the pillow." She mumbled. "I've been so angry with you and being awful to you is supposed to make me feel better, but it doesn't." She closed her eyes as a contraction came on, her fingers gripping the sheets, her knuckles going white.

[Raebee]

Brody felt his face stretch into a grin, even though it was probably the worst thing he could do right at that minute. "I did say hi. When I got here." He glanced at the pillow and shrugged. "I've had worse things thrown at me in the last few weeks trust me. If I'd known the pillow was coming I would have dodged it."

He grasped the opportunity as another contraction commanded all her attention, to rest his hand on her leg, and talk into the silence. "No. We're not together anymore. We actually never were together. Not officially. I'm sorry that I put you through that. I really am. But I just...I guess I was selfish. I didn't want to give up exploring what options I thought I had."

Brody stood up from the bed, and moved closer to the top half of her, and smoothed the hair from her forehead. "I'm here now. I-I'm not expecting you to forgive me right away. Or even like me right now. I'm just.. I want you to not shut me out."

[Tiff]

Liesl let a small smile appear on her face as she looked up. "That's not what I meant, I was referring to the bit where you said you didn't know what to say to me, 'hi' would have been just fine, we've never had a hard time striking up some sort of conversation before." She placed her hand on his and looked down at their hands. "You were definitely selfish and I suppose that's alright, it just really blows being on the silent treatment end." She chuckled a bit. "It's funny that you should say I don't have to like you right now, because that's exactly what I would like to do, not like you, but you have this thing about you that just drives me crazy. Can I ask you a question?"

She let go of his hand and tried to get into a more comfortable position. "You said you loved me and I teased you about it, but I never really knew if it was true or not. How can you say you love someone and then go off and do what you did? Was it a lie?" She kept her tone even. "I guess it really doesn't matter, I'm not going to shut you out."

[Raebee]

Brody frowned lightly, not sure how to answer the question. "I do..I do love you. And that's why me and Kylie aren't hanging out anymore. It actually didn't take me very long to work out that we're not really suited, her and me. I don't think she'd like being married to a tradie. But I was too proud to tell you I'd been wrong. I didn't want to tell you the pain I'd put you though was for nothing".

Moving away from the bed, he glanced at the ceiling and the tips of his shoes. Anywhere but at Liesl. "I've only been in love once before. It almost destroyed me then. I'm a coward Lies. I didn't want to go through it again only to end up torn to shreds like the last time, so I ran away. I'm still a kid. I don't even know how I'm supposed to show this kid the right way to live when I don't even know what that is yet."

He turned back to the bed, a tiny mocking smile on his lips. "You could have called me you know. I didn't realise you were so...passive."

[Tiff]

Liesl listened to everything he had to say, she didn't like that he wouldn't look at her, but in her current position she wasn't physically able to make him look at her so she let it go. "It really was for nothing then, kinda sucks, but..." She sighed. "I guess it could be worse." She started to smile but was hit with another painful contraction and didn't get the chance. Once it passed she looked up at him, wanting nothing more than to be held by him. "I could have called you, but you asked for time and I thought that meant no contact until you'd reestablished contact with me you know." She sighed. "I didn't want to lose out on whatever chance I might have had, a relationship is based on a couple of things and one of those is trust, how could you trust me if I went back and broke my promise to give you time and space?" She rolled her eyes. "Now if something were happening with Ty..the baby...I would have called you, but Bean's been fine."

She put her hands on her belly and sighed. "I'm glad you're here and that you love me and I have one more question." She giggled. "Ok, maybe not just one more. Can I tell you the gender now? What's your relationship with Kylie going to be now? and are you still going to love me if I break your hand while I deliver Bean?"

[Raebee]

Brody ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated with himself every time he saw her face twist in pain. He smiled though, when she laughed. It can't be that bad if she's laughing in between right? And making jokes?

He bit his lip and looked away from her as she mentioned Kylie. "I um...I haven't seen her since the night we.." He cleared his throat awkwardly and decided not to finish the sentence. "Miki tells me she's left town. I have no idea where she is, or how to contact her. Miki says she's changed her number." He felt awful at the way he'd left things with Kylie, not even able to explain himself.

He smiled as he took her small hand in his. "No I won't stop loving you if you break my hand. But I might if you tell me the gender of the baby before they come out of you." He paused, frowning slightly. "Is it gonna be a natural birth? My mum had to have a c-section with me and my brother and then with Miki. She has this scar thingy that looks pretty weird."

[Tiff]

Liesl tried not to smile when he talked about Kylie being gone, sure it was probably sad to dozen's of people, but it took a lot of pressure off her back not having to worry about Brody changing his mind and running back into her arms. She made sure the smile disappeared before he turned back to look at her though. It wasn't that she hadn't heard the sentence he'd chose to leave unfinished, it just didn't seem to matter much in the grand scheme of things. So what if he screwed her, the girl with everything was gone and that meant Liesl might actually get to keep something she truly wanted for a change. "I won't tell you in that case. I think Bean would be much happier with parents who still care about each other than parents who hate each other over something really dumb." She rolled her eyes and linked her fingers with his. It felt nice to be able to touch him again and to know he wasn't going to run off to another girl as soon as Tyler was in the world. "Natural birth, I'm terrified either way, but a c-section scares me just a little bit more. It's like killing all the nerves where they cut you and then if I let myself go, even just once it'll be really hard to get rid of the fat cells around that area." She laughed. "I know I shouldn't care about that, but I can't help if I'm vain and shallow. Plus scars freak me out, especially if they're big." She shrugged as her mom and the nurse walked in. "How are you with needles?" She asked Brody. "Because they're about to stick one in my back and if you're queasy you might want to close your eyes, cover your ears or you know step outside for a sec." She looked a little uneasy herself. "I really wish I could leave the room, I hate needles."

[Raebee]

Brody stifled a shudder as Liesl spoke about needles. It wasn't that he was afraid for any logical reason, but his mother had always feared them and for some reason it rubbed off on him. "Uh... sure no problem. I can be here. What's one little needle right?" He chuckled nervously and ran his fingers through his hair.

"So um.. how dialated are you? You must be close if you can have the epidural right?" Brody swallowed hard and glanced at Liesl's stomach. For all his excitement, it had just hit him that the the tiny person inside of her was about to come out. It had all been simple for him up to this point. Well..relatively.

Running his fingers through his hair again, he grinned at Liesl sheepishly. "Is there anything you need? That I can get you while you're uh...hanging around here?"

[Tiff]

Liesl let go of his hand and turned on her side so the nurse could administer the drug with the needle. "Of course it's no problem for you, you're not the one getting the needle in your back." She closed her eyes and tried to mentally prepare herself for the sting of the needle. The nurse finished up and left the room promising to return to check on her shortly. "I'm four or five centimeters, just about halfway there. Yay!" She rolled back over and reached out for his hand again. "I don't really need anything, maybe for the medicine to numb me quickly, but having you here is more than enough."